Erasing Fear
by CursedFire
Summary: There's only been one successful winged eraser ever created, Sam. She is so valuable that the school has never risked sending her after the flock, but when all of the normal erasers are dying during missions, they decide the risk is worth it. Too bad Sam has no reason to remain loyal to the school...
1. Freedom

**This is a short story I wrote almost 4 years ago. It's been slightly modified (proofreading mostly) but for the most part, it is as originally written. Since then I have improved immensely and I know many things I'd write differently today, but this story is written and I've moved on, so I will not change it. **

Erasing Fear

Chapter 1- Freedom

I push my head up and look around. _Ugh, this headache is horrible. Where am I? _Its dark around and I can only see a few feet in front of me. _Why are there bars in front of my face? _And then it clicks. I am in a crate somewhere. Pushing my face against the bars, I can tell that I'm not the only poor kid in these crates. However, I am by far the oldest. I am surrounded by children that look no older than ten, but could be much younger. Some of the kids grow fast, that's just how it is. I keep forgetting where I am.

But now I remember. I'm in the school. And I'm treated just as much of filth as all the other 'experiments' because I'm the loser. I'm the eraser who can't kill. I'm the one who has to be guarded and can't do anything herself. They won't even let me fly. I am the second in a batch of winged erasers, but surely not the biggest failure of them all. I'd seen kids, newborns, keel over and stop breathing in the crates next to mine.

But there is nothing I can do to help. In my world, it's just an accepted part of life, death. I think they keep me in here to get me to kill those flying bird-kids. I am one of the best trained erasers, and I am also the only one that's not aging at an abnormal rate. I am fifteen years old, and look it. The other erasers who look like me are only about two or maybe three. They rarely live longer than seven, so the school wants to keep me alive.

I've not always been in here. I was once one of them, training in the courtyard. But I was never the one to kill one of the poor experiments out there, and eventually they noticed. So they put me in here.

Now that I've seen all these kids, knowing that they will all die eventually, makes me think that maybe it's not so bad to kill experiments. Honestly, it probably makes their lives easier. _Somebody, please come let me out of here. _

As if on command, a white-coat comes in for the morning. Luckily, I had never been subjected to the cruel tests that he is getting ready for the other experiments. But it seems something is different about today. Today he walks to my crate first and stares into my eyes. I stare back with slight anger in my eyes, wanting to get out of this hell-hole.

It seems there is something in my eyes that strikes something in him. He calls to another scientist in a language I still do not quite understand. _They seem to speak Spanish just because they know I speak English!_ I am frustrated by this fact. The only words I pick out are _she, her, ready, _and _now._ They're pretty simple words that they use constantly that I learned over time.

I sit in my crate, waiting for the man to come over and take me out. Even if it was for a test, I want out of this crate so badly. He instead checks on every other crate before coming back to mine. He has a needle in his hand and I sadly but willingly hold my hand out. _Co-operating will make this easier. _He takes my hand and sticks me with the needle. Soon enough, I feel slightly dizzy. Whatever was in that needle seems to not bode well with my body. Soon enough, I faint.

When I wake up again, I am in a room. It's one of the rooms I remember from my days as a plain old eraser. There is a simple bed, a security camera, and a steel door. When I sit up, someone in the security section is alerted and they send a white-coat in.

"Hello girl." He says to me. They still haven't given me a name yet. I chose one.

"I'm Sam." I call to the white-coat but he ignores me.

"We think you are ready for something. We need you to help us in a way normal erasers can't." Of course, they have a reason for putting me in here. "We need you to make friends with Maximum Ride as if you are simply another avian-human hybrid. When we give you the signal, you will capture her and bring her in. Got it?"

I nod. Finally, some action. As a plus, I don't even have to kill anyone!

"But, if you are unable to contain Maximum Ride, we need you to kill her." Of course. Short lived glee leaves me. I frown slightly, but nod again.

"Good. Go. Train with the other Erasers. Try to befriend one. You need practice." I nod and he leaves with me following behind. I go to the courtyard where the erasers are currently socializing. Contrary to popular belief of the flock, we are more than mindless killing machines. Though, some erasers have no fear of killing, I will give the flock that.

I look throughout the erasers, trying to find one who seems older, closer to my age. (Mental age, not physical age.) I spy a group by the wall, one of them with an expiration tattoo clear on his neck. _Poor Guy._ I accept it though, expiration is also a fact of eraser life. We all expire sooner or later. I'm just later.

I walk to them and they turn to me. "Aren't you a little young to be over here, little girl?" The expiring one asks me.

"I'm older than you by far. In case you were never told, I am that legendary experiment R-645, the one who is 15? The one that doesn't age like you all do. That one." The guy was dumbfounded. "Sam. Nice to meet you." I held out my hand to him as I had seen humans do.

He takes my hand and shakes it. "Well, then, Sam. Hello. I am D-729, also known as Dan, Danny, Daniel, whatever. Where you been?"

I laugh. "Oh, Off doing stuff. You know?" He nods, pretending to believe it even though he knows it a lie.

"Well, I've been told to go befriend people for my next mission. I need people skills, I guess." I say, looking at the whole group. "What are your names?" I ask.

The smaller female replies first. "Carmen. Pleased to meet you." I shake her hand too and nod.

Then the tall male replies. "I'm Randy." I shake his hand too.

"Hey, I need to train. I'm gonna go find someone to practice with. I'm a bit out of practice. See you." I wave and walk away, towards a much younger looking group. This group is about 17, so they think I am some little kid with more bark than bite. So, they gladly tussle, and I beat each one, barely. Clearly I need more practice. I steadily go around, the crowd around me growing. I steadily get better and my previous skills quickly come back to me.

Soon enough, a white-coat walks out and tells all of us erasers to go back to our rooms. He stops me and tells me to follow him. I obey and he leads me to a room with some other white-coats. "Hello…Sam, is that right? Here is what you will be doing. You will go to school with Max. You will become her friend. Then, when we tell you to, you will bring her to us. Okay?" I nod. It was a simple enough plan.

"Follow me." One white-coat says to me. I follow and he brings me to a van. They bring me to about where Max is staying. I am supposed to go to her as if I am a run-away experiment.

From then on, I am on my own. I have been told her location and must get there myself. For the first time in a few years, I whip out my wings. They are a little weak, but that is all the more convincing for the flock.

I soar around, looking out for the house described by the white-coats. It seemed that the flock found a house with someone they knew. Actually, I was told they were staying with a relative of Max's. I have no idea how they found a relative, but they did. I wish I could know my parents…

I fly over several towns, all of which don't quite match the description. I am looking for a place that has lots of land, which certainly won't be in a city. Soon enough, rather than seeing the house, I see three awkward looking birds. It doesn't take long for me to realize that these awkward birds are actually people.

They all fly down to land, and I land a bit farther away to get myself ready. I need to look disheveled, scared, and panicked, none of which I look like now. I run myself through the forest, getting dirty and sweaty and more disheveled looking. Putting on a scared face, I begin walking quickly in the direction of the house.

What I was not told was of the special powers the flock possessed. Angel senses me coming and warns Max of another presence. Max and Fang begin looking for the threat with the others soon following behind.

When Max finds me, I quickly get a heavy combat boot in the face.


	2. Leather Jacket

Chapter 2- Leather Jacket

As one may expect, a combat boot in the face courtesy of Max is very painful. Lucky for me I am strong too, or else I would have just been knocked out.

I groan and hold up a hand as if to say _Hey! Pause for a second! _I feel my nose, glad that it's not broken. "Hey! I've been looking for you!" I let my wings roll off my back in a relaxed position so that Max can see them. Fang shows himself finally. Gazzy walks through the forest followed by Iggy and Angel.

"Where did you come from?" Max asks.

"I'm from the same place as you all, the school. But I escaped. I heard about you all while I was there and thought it'd be a good idea to find you." Max nods. Clearly this was an acceptable answer, though they are still wary.

Iggy slowly walks over. "Can I touch your wings?"

I am baffled for a second before I remember he is blind. "Um. Sure."

"He's blind." Max explains to me. I nod in understanding. Iggy walks over and I turn so that my wings are nearest him. He feels them and the stroke of a hand on my wings is surprisingly pleasurable. It feels nice to have people around, friends. I begin to wonder if I will be able to betray them or not. The school made it too easy for me to go rogue, but it seems they don't think I would.

He stops stroking my wings and walks back to Gazzy. "You have soft feathers. And I like the grey color."

I freeze. "I thought you were blind." Clearly the white-coats left out information. Iggy blinks and Max faces me.

"He is. He can um… feel colors. It's a weird mutation he developed. You know, before you live with us, maybe you should know all of our abnormalities. Well then, I have a voice in my head, I can breathe underwater, and I can fly super-speed. Fang can disappear sort of. Iggy can feel colors. Nudge can crack computer codes and attract metal. Gazzy has…digestive issues. And Angel can read minds, influence minds, and breathe underwater. I think that's everything. If we run into anything else, we'll let you know." Max smiles and the flock looks at me. I am completely dumbfounded. The white-coats told me they had mutated on their own, but this was ridiculous.

My jaw drops. I stare at them and gain composure once again. "Okay then. Well… I don't really have any interesting powers, but I am a kick-ass fighter." I smile and the flock laughs with me.

Max begins walking in the direction of their house. "Come on. Let's go get some dinner."

I follow and realize that the sun is beginning to set. _I didn't realize it was getting so late._ We chat on the way there mostly about my life before I escaped. (Of course, this was almost entirely a fake life-story.) The flock leads me to the house where I find out that they have been staying with Max's mom. How they found Max's mom I do not know.

Max's mom is surprised to see me. I wave. "Hello. I am Sam." She looks curiously at Max.

Max sighs. "Mom, this is Sam, Sam this is mom. We've been living here. Mom, Sam is another bird-kid that escaped. She's 15 like me." I nod and relax my wings once again, giving Max's mother a good look at them.

"Well, hello then Sam. I take it you will stay here? It seems you and the flock have already bonded pretty well. We're all like a big happy family here. I hope you can be a part of the family too." She smiles at me and I smile back. "I'm a vet, if you want to know. You can just call me Mom, the whole flock does."

She walks to set dinner on the table and I follow her and seat myself at the end of the table where Angel had dragged a chair up for me. 'Mom' calls upstairs and another girl comes running down, one who I was not aware of. She stops when she sees me and 'mom' answers her face. "This is Sam. She'll be joining Max." Simple as that, she accepts it.

'Mom' turns to me. "Sam, this is Ella, my daughter, Max's half-sister." I nod in Ella's direction. Ella waves and sits down. With a glance from 'mom' to Max, everyone digs in. I quickly reach out, knowing that if I want some food, I have to reach out quickly before it all gets eaten.

I expect that there is more food elsewhere, because everybody seems to expect seconds. (Mostly the flock.) I enjoy the food and realize that the flock has a great life. I don't want to take this all away from them. The school made me believe that mutants trying to live a human life would make them have a miserable life, but clearly not. This is an amazing life and something every mutant in that damn school should strive for, even the erasers.

After a few servings, the flock is finally done and a wonderful smell hits my nose. I inhale deeply and the flock watches me with smiled on their faces. "What is that smell?" I ask with a slightly awed tone.

Max leans over to me. "Cookies!" She smiles, as if remembering the time she reacted the same way. When mom pulls the cookies out of the oven, my tongue feels like it's going to die from anticipation. Mom sets the cookies down on the table and there is a frenzy. I am the first to reach out, followed soon by the rest of the flock and then Ella and mom.

I put a cookie into my mouth and immediately spit it out. "Oww! OwwOwwOww!" I grab my glass of cold milk and chug it down. "I think I burnt my tongue." Everyone laughs at me, and I get to hear the story of the first time Max had mom's cookies from Ella. Apparently she had reacted the same way, burning her tongue by trying to scarf down the cookies straight from the oven. I smile, glad to know I am not the only one.

Already, the flock was growing on me, feeling more like a family than I had ever felt before.

Max and Ella show me up to the guest room after dinner, where I will stay until there is time to go get me things to personalize it. Mom promises that we can go shopping tomorrow, and I fall asleep with a smile on my face.

When I wake up in the morning, I temporarily forget why I am not in a crate. Then I remember the events of yesterday and smile. I realize why Max and the rest of the flock ran away and I wish that I had the chance to go with them. But they just thought I was a normal eraser at the time. They noticed that I aged slightly differently, but they hadn't realized I was special until two years after Max and the flock went missing.

I want to tell them all the truth, but I don't know if they'll accept it. I want to be honest, but they don't like erasers. Erasers are their enemies. But I decide that I will tell mom when we go shopping today.

Nudge ran into my room. "Sam, Sam, Sam get up! It's noon, and Mom is bringing me to help you guys buy stuff for your room!" I groan and slowly roll out of bed. I was told Nudge was an early riser but it seems I rose later. Or that she loves shopping that much. I think it is the latter.

I stand up slowly and realize I have no clean clothes. I walk downstairs to be greeted by a nice weekend brunch. Seeing my dirty, wrinkled clothes, Max drags me back upstairs despite my want to go eat breakfast. We walk into her room and she drags me straight to her closet. "What are we doing?" I grumble, but it just comes out as "mrgguggug."

Max seems to smile as she digs into her clothes. "It seems we have another who isn't a morning person." I nod. She is completely right. I've never been a morning person.

Max pulls out a pair of worn jeans and hands me a stack of shirts. "Here's a pair of pants. You can chose one of those shirts. Mom's bringing you to get clothes today, but if we want to go unnoticed, you need something clean. You can also borrow my leather jacket while you're shopping. Just give it back when you get back." She smiles and I thank her, picking out the long sleeve dark gray shirt.

I walk back to my room and change, pulling on my dirty socks and worn black converse. I envy Max. She has such a cool leather jacket, those combat boots, and a great family. When I am dressed save for the leather jacket, I walk down the stairs to get breakfast.

It seems that as I was changing, Iggy and Gazzy decided to steal all of the bacon. "Thanks you guys. Thanks a lot." I grumble at them.

I hear Iggy's voice behind me. "Somebody's definitely not a morning person!" He laughed. I turn around, ready with a retort to see Gazzy rolling on the floor laughing and Iggy turning around to throw a half-eaten apple at him.

This time, I see Iggy speak. "I think Max forgot to mention, Gazzy enjoys mimicking people. A bunch. You can kick him or something if he mimics you. He doesn't realize it's so annoying." I glare at Gazzy. He shrinks away and launches himself out of the window. In a grumpy mood, I make my way to the kitchen where the food is sitting out for me.

There's some pancakes, syrup, and leftovers from the night before. After eating my fill, I collapse on the floor next to Iggy. Mom comes downstairs with Nudge. I jump up, suddenly excited for shopping. Max runs down a few seconds later carrying her leather jacket. It's brown, which clashes with the gray shirt, but I plan on getting my own black one if it's not too expensive.

"Sam, ready to go?" Mom calls, and I run outside to the car. Nudge sits herself in the passenger seat, but Mom kicks her out and lets me instead. Before we leave, Mom asks me what I want to go get. I tell her I'd like some socks, jeans, and T-shirts, as well as a leather jacket like Max's. And for my room I would like a reading lamp and some cool sheets and a sketchbook and a pencil. "Don't be afraid to get something expensive. Get whatever you want." I smile. We decide to start at Target. As we're shopping, I find some nice socks and underwear that will be comfortable. Their jeans selection was pretty normal, and I found a few pairs. In the juniors' selection, I find several more shirts I like, mostly short sleeved and a few plain long sleeved like what I was already wearing. While looking through more shirts, Nudge wanders off and I decide to tell mom.

"Hey mom, can I talk to you?"

She turns to me and looks at me. I can tell I have her full attention.

"Um. I want to tell you something. It's really important, but I just don't feel comfortable telling the flock yet." I pause and mom says nothing. "Well, I'm just going to go ahead and say it. I'm an eraser. But I'm not like the other erasers, I am more like a bird-kid that can turn into a wolf. I don't age like the erasers, I age like the flock. And…the school sent me here to capture Max. But now I know I can't." I am silent, waiting for a reaction from mom.

She pats my arm. "If you want Sam, you can stay with us. We can protect you and you can ditch them. You don't have to listen to them." I nod. Mom looks at me with concern on her face.

Just then, Nudge came back with some pencils for me and we abandon our conversation. I feel more motivated now, glad that I have the support of Mom.


	3. Roots

Chapter 3- Roots

We go to get me a sketchbook and I pick out one that is dark with some light and darker swirls on the cover. I smile and put it in the cart with all of my clothes. "Thanks so much, mom." We smile at each other and walk to the bedroom section. I find some nice sheets and an interesting floor lamp.

"Would you like a book to read?" Mom asks me, and I nod eagerly. She walks me to the book section where she tells me to pick out three. I happily obey and put them in the cart, giving mom a hug. We walk to the checkout and Nudge wanders off again to come back with a pair of purple converse. Of course, mom agrees to get those for her too. I wonder why that girl needs so many pairs of shoes, but I don't say anything.

We pay for everything and I help carry the stuff to the car while Nudge puts the cart away. We get back in the car and drive to the mall where Nudge knows of a store that has leather jackets. When we get there, I find a nice one that is black, just like I want. We quickly pay for it, and I can tell that Nudge is getting a little bit nervous from being out and about so long.

As we are on our way home, I switch Max's brown jacket for my new black one. When we get home, I realize that Angel has a dog. With wings. That can talk. Once again, the white-coats failed to inform me.

As I am gawping at the dog, Total, Max compliments me on my jacket. I go back out to the car and help mom carry my stuff up to my room. We set it all up and she teaches me how to make a bed, something I had never even heard of before. My light looks good in my room and now I have clothes to put in the dresser.

I walk downstairs to join the flock. Total sees me for the first time and sniffs me. "Wow, sister. You smell WEIRD. Not like the other bird-kids." I look at him, still unable to grasp the talking dog concept. When I go into the family room, I realize that the flock is all outside flying.

While I had been able to launch myself into the air and sort of land before, I had help getting into the air from the white-coats. So, watching the flock, I examine how they move their wings for different maneuvers. Turning around, I go back inside and up the stairs to Iggy's room. Though I was told not to go in there, I know I can get onto the roof through his window.

I open his window and climb out onto the roof, locating the flock once again. I figure that if I just jump, instinct will kick in. Before I could throw myself off the roof, Max lands next to me, her brown and white feathers shimmering in the light.

"What are you doing?" She says to me.

"Well, it's not like they taught me to fly at the school. I can fight, but I can't fly to save my life. Well, no, that's a lie. Once I get in the air, I can make very basic maneuvers, but I can't get up and my landings suck." I say to her. She nods, understanding completely. "I was going to just, like, jump off the roof, let instincts kick in, you know?"

Max nods. "Well, before you try that, try running and leaping off the roof instead. That might work better so that you can gain some momentum. Momentum makes take-off much easier." I nod and turn to the other side of the roof. Max watches me. First, since I haven't made slits in my jacket yet, I take it off. Then I begin to run, gaining speed before I launch. When I reach the end, I plant one foot and leap. I unfurl my weaker silvery wings and push down with them, feeling the strong wind beneath them.

For a second, I think I am not quite strong enough to fly, but with each flap, I steadily rose higher. Fang swooped down next to me. "Good job. First try?" I nod, pretending like I hadn't flown here from the school. He swoops back up and I watch his wings as he makes such a quick maneuver.

Copying his wind movements, I attempt to swoop up like he did. I don't quite get it right and I can feel the odd movement pulling my wing muscles slightly. I loosen up and go upwards at my own pace, trying to maneuver closer to the flock. Fang sees my attempt to copy the maneuver and laughs. As I get closer, I can see that Total is only a bit more experienced than me.

I try to hover like Iggy, Fang, Max, and Nudge can, but it proves to be more difficult than they make it look. So instead, I teach myself how to fly in tight circles. The flock seems to have a way of flying that is much more like birds than mine, and I cannot figure out why until Gazzy tells me. "We hung out with some hawks one time and learned things from them. Come here." I follow Gazzy down to the roof, and he shows me some feather movements they had learned from the hawks. Eager to try them, I try a standing takeoff like Gazzy. Of course, I come crashing back down to the roof. Ignoring Gazzy's snickers, I do a running takeoff and move those feathers I never even knew could move.

I am surprised by the movements that the subtle changes can bring. I find myself swooping and circling much more like the rest of the flock now. (but still nowhere close!) They all seem to enjoy watching my improvement, seeing the joy in my face from flying.

_If only they knew the truth, if they knew I was an eraser. Then what would they think? What if they won't let me stay here with them?_

Angel falters a little bit in her flapping and falls several feet before catching herself. I remember something now. She can read minds. _Damn it._ And I remember her mind reading again. I look at her and purposely send her thoughts of _let me talk to you._ She looks at me and we drift down to the ground in the trees where the flock won't overhear us.

"You're an eraser?!" Angel almost yelled, and I was worried someone would hear her.

"Let me explain! It's not at all like being an eraser. I am much more like a bird-kid who can turn into a wolf. You all have special powers, and it's like that. I don't age like them. I really am 15 years old. Ever since they realized that I don't kill, I've been locked in a crate. Honestly, I'm not sure if I am a mutated bird-kid or a lupine-avian-human. I'm not evil at all, not like the other erasers." I look at Angel, hoping she'll understand. She nods slowly and I feel relieved.

"But there's more to it. They finally pulled me out of my crate one day and told me to go capture Max. I was going to, because I have known no other life than that, but when I met all of you, I knew that I would never do what they said. You all are like a family. This life is much better than whatever the white-coats would give me. There's no way I could to it."

I could feel Angel reading my mind. I think she was looking for any lies or doubts, but found none.

Angel nods and lifts off from a stationary position as I tried earlier. Noticing there was no way I could make a running leap, I begin to walk out of the forest. Something grabs the back of my shirt and pulls me into the bushes, quickly muffling my mouth.

Twisting around, I meet the ugly, scarred face of a full on eraser. And not just any eraser, but the walking miracle himself. The one they brought back from the dead twice now; Ari. (Lucky for him, they decided to relieve him of his big awkward wings.) I relax slightly, and he releases his grip on me.

"The school isn't happy with you Sam. They know that you're growing too much of a bond with them. If you get to attached, then you can't perform your duty. And if you can't perform your duty, then you know what they'll do? They'll come in with a bunch of machines and kill all of you without mercy in your sleep. Not just the flock, but Ella and Dr. Martinez as well. You wouldn't want that would you?" Ari stares into my eyes, complete seriousness showing.

I know from personal experience that the school never bluffs. When they say they will do something, they will do it. If they say they will come slaughter all of us in our sleep, they will. I have no doubts. The fear on my face shows and Ari notices it. He sighs. "I have to report you, you know. I have to tell them that you're not going to do it. And then I will be responsible for Max's death. I don't want that, I don't want that at all." He sighs and walks back into the forest, leaving me traumatized and rooted to the spot.


	4. Bombs

Chapter 4- Bombs

Suddenly, Ari runs back to me. "Oh, I almost forgot. The school will be sending in erasers to make it seem like you actually are running from the school." And he leaves.

I am rooted to the spot. I want to call a bluff, but I don't think it is a bluff. I try to hide my fear and pull my feet from the ground. Slowly, I walk back to the edge of the forest. I mask my fear and put it in the back of my mind, focusing more on my takeoff. This time, I don't have to reach full speed to take-off, but there is still no way for me to make a standing takeoff.

I practice moving my wings and I feel the sheer joy of flying freely. Angel flies back upwards as if she was simply bringing me down to show me some techniques rather than asking me a serious question.

Telling Angel gave me a little hope though. Maybe someday soon I will be able to tell the flock the truth and they will accept me for who I am. I see Angel smile a little bit and wonder if she thinks I should tell them or if she thinks I should wait a bit or even if she thinks I shouldn't. I swoop upwards and join the flock in their flying, learning new maneuvers from watching the older flock members.

Before I know it, Mom is calling us down for dinner and I realize that I don't really know how to land. Every time I landed before, I grabbed onto a tree branch or something. But now, I had to just land. Hearing my slight distress, Angel flies to the roof, grabs my beloved jacket, and goes inside, giving me reason to land.

I descend slowly and hit the ground hard. I fall to my knees under the weight, but I don't hurt myself. I walk inside and sit down at the table with everybody to eat dinner. After dinner, once Gazzy and Angel have gone to bed, Fang suggests watching a movie.

"What the heck is a movie?"

They look at me like I am strange. It seems the flock didn't have the same reaction I did to movies.

Iggy laughs. "Just sit down." I obey and Fang puts a silver circle disk thing into a big black box by the TV.

I watch the TV, curious to see what will happen.

As it turns out, a movie is a video of people acting something scripted, and it's actually way cooler than I make it sound. It's full of action and violence and fake kicks that look almost real! It was definitely my thing, and clearly the boys enjoyed it too. Ella wasn't too fond of it however, and went to her room to do homework.

Boy, am I glad I don't have to do any homework.

After the movie, we all go up to bed, eager to sleep. After reading a few chapters of one of my books, I fall asleep as well.

I am woken up by a tap on my door. Max walks in.

"Hey Max." I push myself up to greet her.

"Hey Sam. I ah, wanted to talk to you." She looks a little bit nervous and sits cross-legged on the foot of my bed, facing me. "Angel told me. About you. And I wanted to talk to you about it."

My smile disappears and I nod to her. "Yeah. Um…"

Before I can say anything, she continues. "I don't care at all if you feel like more of a bird-kid who can turn into a wolf than an eraser with wings. I have been seeing things that make me wonder. Sometimes when I look into the mirror, I see myself as an eraser. Every time this happens, my voice tells me something cryptic. So, I sort of understand how you feel. Unsure of what you are… But I have no doubts that you're not like the other erasers at all. You're fitting into our family like another bird-kid, and I think the flock will feel the same way. If you want to tell them, I think they'll accept it, especially since me and Angel have."

I nod to her, a smile growing on my face. "I think I will tell them." Max smiles and leaves, letting me get ready for breakfast. I put on a new pair of jeans and pull on a dark red T-shirt. I gather all of my shirts and bring them downstairs. I set them on the kitchen counter and pull out a knife, getting some glances from Ella and Mom.

Max comes over and sees what I'm doing. She laughs and takes the knife from me, putting it back. "Let me do this for you. I'll show you how." She pulls out her pocketknife and picks up the first shirt. She makes sure I am watching as she uses her pocketknife to cut slits in the back. "Do you have big wings or small wings?" I am unsure, so she just makes medium slits. I go try it on and the slits are the perfect size. Once Max and I finish cutting slits in the shirts, Mom shows me how to sew the edges to stop them from ripping more themselves.

The final thing we do is make some slits in the leather jacket that are hard to see unless you're looking for them. I have to practice whipping my wings through them, but it is pretty comfortable once I get my wings through. Max says it'll become more natural the longer I travel with the flock and I believe her.

We have a nice healthy lunch before going outside again. I never thought that the flock would enjoy flying around so much until I actually had a chance to do just that. No matter how many times you flew, there was always nothing more joyful and exhilarating. I love flying more than anything in the world, except my new family among the flock.

When we all get up into the air, I call everyone's attention and send my intentions to Angel. She smiles and nods and I continue. "Hey guys. Well, I need to tell you something. Just… keep in mind I am still a bird-kid." They all watch me curiously, and as I am flying in little circles, I transform into my wolf form. It feels good to be a wolf again. I stretch my wolf muscles as I fly while everyone but Angel and Max watches me in awe. I transform back into a human and turn to them. I can see the shock on everyone's face and begin to wonder if it was a good idea to tell them. They all seemed to turn to Angel and Max, the leader and the mind-reader.

Angel faces everyone. "I knew when we were teaching her to fly."

Max speaks next. "She told me this morning." This isn't exactly true, but I go with it. The rest of the flock looks at me, other than Iggy.

I transform into a wolf again and fly over to him, letting my silvery fur brush him, letting him know too. "Well, I guess that explains your gray wings then." He laughs a little bit, trying to diffuse the tension. The flock seems to accept it, but I explain anyways.

"I don't know much about what happened, but I do know for a long time I thought I was a winged eraser. But, I age like you, I don't age like an eraser. I think like you, not an eraser. So, I wonder if it is like your mutations. Up until I was about seven, they treated me like an eraser. Then they truly realized that I didn't have it in me to kill. They locked me in a crate like you all and I have been in there ever since. But then I got out. They thought I was ready to train again, but they were wrong. I took that chance to get away. One of my eraser friends threw me into the air and I flew for the first time then, but I fell down soon after I got over the fence." I watch their reactions, glad that not a single one is acting weird or nervous. They all accept that I am part eraser.

As we all descend, mom comes out and yells to us. "Jeb is coming home today! I just got a call." Everyone seems to become more excited, but I cannot figure out why. Nobody tells me and I leave it, knowing I will find out soon enough.

The flock and I fly around and enjoy ourselves for a while longer before they all decide to show me around the area. I happily go with them and we land in the forest. I hit the ground hard, but I do not fall to my knees like last time. Iggy knows his way around well and walks confidently without hitting trees. We walk for a while into the forest.

I feel a strong kick between my wings, and I fall to the ground. I see a furry brown something fly over my head and I realize that Ari was right; the school was sending erasers after them. I push myself up and try to takeoff, realizing I have not enough room to make a running start. Since I can't make it, I spin around, giving a roundhouse kick to the eraser standing behind me.

He falls hard and I kick him again to make sure he doesn't get up anytime soon. Seeing an eraser right behind Nudge, I tackle him while Nudge finishes fighting the guy in front of her.

An eraser grabs me from behind, pulling me into a headlock. "Get to it, bird girl." He whispers and I kick him in the gut. He doubles over and I deliver a nasty blow below the belt, keeping him down for long enough.

I look towards the flock to realize they are all in the air, Gazzy yelling at me, "Run Sam!" He drops something, and I try to get myself into the air, launching myself off of the eraser who is still doubled over in pain. To my left, I see the edge of the forest and wonder how far we had gone.

Then there is a blast and I feel myself being propelled not upwards, but to the side at an awkward angle. My whole right side burns and my right wing won't seem to respond. I go soaring over the trees and to the desert that was once on my left.

I hit the ground hard and just lie there. I hear and see the flock landing around me, but I soon pass out.


	5. Plans

Chapter 5- Plans

I groan. My whole left side is so sore! I open my eyes, not willing to move so as not to make the pain awaken. Sitting next to me is Max, who turns to me when I move. "How are you feeling?"

I don't answer for a second. "Uh, what happened?"

Max looks down and then back at me. "Well, I forgot to tell you about Iggy and Gazzy's… knack for making bombs. And, when they told you to run, they dropped a bomb and forgot that you can't take a standing take-off like the rest of the flock. And, it blew up pretty close to you. Not enough for permanent damage, but it knocked you out pretty good and scorched your clothes. I mean, your jacket is pretty okay, but your jeans are all black. We decided to just bring you back here and let you rest."

I push myself up slowly, glancing over my left leg. It looks pretty weird, having a black pant leg. Even though I am sore, I slowly get up and stand, distributing weight slowly onto the left leg, which holds my weight nicely. _Good, I'm not injured. _If there is one thing I am worried about, it's injuries.

This kind of put something in perspective for me. If I don't get Max, then they really would come for us, killing me just as easily as the rest of the flock. I don't want to be the cause of everyone's death, but I don't want to betray Max either. But it seemed I didn't have any options.

Later that day, as we're flying, Angel asks to teach me some moves again, to which I gladly agree. She pulls up beside me and shows me some easy forms to get a sharp turn. I don't get them very well, but soon enough, I've got a nice sharp turn resembling the ones from the flock that I witnessed during our fight yesterday.

But then Angel says into my head, "Come meet me in the forest again. We need to talk."

I hesitantly follow. When we land, she makes it seem like she's teaching me landings, so as to divert the attention of the flock. She leads me into the forest and when we're in dense cover, she whips around and slaps me.

"What was that for?" I yelled at her, quite annoyed, but certain about what this conversation will be.

"What do you mean you need to kidnap Max? I thought you were our family!" I could see the hurt in her eyes, but clearly she knew the dilemma this was to me as well.

"Well, you're the mind reader, you should know! I am family, but the erasers are going to come kill us if I don't! I don't want to be responsible for the death of us all, including Ella and Mom! At least if I kidnap Max, she'll be alive, and so will you all!" Angel's eyes fill with anger.

"Well, Sam, Clearly they never treated you as one of us, because if they did, you'd know that for us, going back there is worse than death. We'd never wish it on a single soul! I'd rather die than see Max back at the school."

I stared at her, jaw dropped slightly. I never realized just how strong their feelings were about the school. Maybe they were treated horribly before I was contained or something. But this made me realize I didn't know what to do. I really didn't know. And Angel could see this in my face without needing to read my mind.

"Sam, seriously. We're tough. We can protect ourselves, and we can protect you. They've been trying to kill us for years. And we're still alive, so clearly they're bluffing. Or not bluffing, but lying to you about their capabilities." She looked at me, the need to help shining through her eyes.

I nod to her. "Alright. I'll wait it out. But I have a bad feeling about this, okay?"

She replies simply. "We all have a bad feeling about the school Sam."

She beckons for me to follow as she walks towards the edge of the forest. "I think it's about time for you to learn how to do a standing take-off." I continue following with a smile on my face.

"Alright, so. To do a flying take-off, you have to flap hard. You have to flap as hard as you ever have before, and you need to keep your strokes long, not short. You tend to make them fast and short, but long and slower is stronger." She gives me an example and she flies up into the sky.

I try to follow and get a few flaps in before I crash to the ground again. "What did I do wrong that time?"

"You went back to normal flapping too soon. Make sure you're nice and high before you speed up."

I nod to her and try again. I tumble back down a few times and after several tries, I get up, slowly reaching the height of the flock. They all cheer to me and I realize they were all watching me, waiting for this to happen. I smile at my encouraging family and they all cheer me on.

And at that moment, I was finally sure of what I was going to do; I was going to live with my flock and be another family member. I'm not going to turn Max in, like I previously thought. Angel smiled at me and discretely nodded her approval.

The flock and I spend our afternoon soaring around until the smell of baking cookies quickly rounds us up back at the house and hovering in the kitchen. Even Ella is excited about the cookies! Of course, Mom teases us with the cookies and told us we all have to eat dinner first. (Of course, the only one of us in danger of spoiling our dinner would be Ella; the rest of us are starving.)

As usual, we have a wonderfully delicious dinner and an interesting dinner conversation. (Mostly about what Ella did at school, Mom at work, etc.) I am pooped from the long day, and as everyone sits down to watch a movie, I sneak upstairs to get some shut-eye.

In the morning, I am awoken to sun streaming through my windows. _That's weird. Mom must have opened them this morning. _I always keep my blinds closed. I walk downstairs and for once, Mom isn't making breakfast. I look around and the flock is nowhere to be seen. So I glance at the clock. No wonder everyone's not here! It's ten! I never sleep so late!

I jog out the door and look up to see the flock playing tag in the sky. Eager to join them, I make my second successful stopped take-off. I smile as I fly up to them and they quickly include me in their game by being air-tackled by Gazzy, who of course, was "it."

I take this as a great time to practice some sharp turns and I take Nudge by surprise as she forgets I can now turn like her. I laugh in joy as I fly away, and Nudge yells to me, "Good job, Sam!" She turns her wings and shoots upwards in the direction of Max, who dodges out of the way and shoots away with her super speed. Nudge however, doesn't give up and chases Max down. Pretty soon, she realizes it's not worth it, and then goes for me instead.

I turn swiftly and shift wolf randomly. As I am speeding through turns, I begin to realize that I can fly faster as a wolf, which makes me smile. Nudge groans in frustration, and I turn around to let her catch up. When she nears me I shoot upwards and turn to fly back to the flock.

But there's a crack, almost like a gunshot, and I fall, my right wing losing mobility quickly. As I crash to the ground, I fully lose mobility- the signs of the school's tranquilizer.

They've used this on me once before, when I was seven. They used it to get me into the crate for the first time. And now it was used on my again.

At the sound of the shot, the flock turns and sees me fall. They all then fly together and land around me. I want to yell at them, "It's the school! Leave me, go!" But because of the tranquilizer, all I can manage is a low grumble that they clearly can't understand.

A stick snaps in the forest and the flock turns to it with defensive aggression on every single member's face. An eraser steps out of the shadows and laughs at them. "You don't know what you got yourself into, do you bird-kids." More erasers step out of the shadows and surround the flock with evil grins on their faces.

The flock all looks at each other, and I see Angel cast a glance at me. "U and A," Max whispers. They all jump into the air and flap hard, casting glances at me to assure me with their eyes that I'll be okay.

They all fly around to spread themselves to take on the erasers and I hear some fighting going on after they land. I don't know how much time has gone by, but I am able to get up again and so I set out to find the flock.

An eraser jumps in front of me and I quickly punch him in the nose, then in the groin to make him double over. Then I fly up a bit and slam down on his shoulders, taking care of him for now. I race on to find my flock.

They are all gathered in a clearing, several dead or unconscious erasers lying on the ground around them. Standing at the opening of the clearing is a face I know well, the head scientist of the current school. He's holding a gun, a quite large one at that. I race into the clearing towards the flock at the same time they race together towards him.

He catches my eye and smiles. I try to yell towards the flock. He turns the gun on me and fires several shots. They hit me in various places and I crumple to the ground, fading quickly. I can feel one in my left thigh, one in my left shoulder and wing, and two or three in my torso area.

The flock all turn around to see what the white-coat had just shot. When they see me lying on the ground, most of them rush towards me.

But not Max. Her face is filled not with fear for me, but anger towards the white-coat. As my vision fades and my breathing slows, I see Max turn back to the scientists and kicks him hard in the groin. I see the gun fall from his hands and I close my eyes. There's no saving me now. I can feel the bullet wounds in my chest and the blood pouring out of the wounds. I accept my fate with a final thought.

"I did it. I saved the flock."

**The End**


End file.
